Search This Blog

Turtles and Trees

I am happy to report Restore Cootes has been a successful broker for two recent developments in the former Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary:

A local company was looking to the Hamilton Naturalist Club to find a place where their employees could volunteer for a day planting trees. The offer was strengthened by the acknowledgment that the type of trees/shrubs could be chosen by the host. I suggested McMaster's newly created buffer zone on Lot M - and happily it was all made possible with the help of professor Susan Dudley, Jen Baker of the Naturalists club, Zanita Lukezich of Evergreen, and the folks at Canon who will be helping. So on Thursday, October 9, 150 native trees and shrubs will be planted on what was, until recently, a parking lot. There is room for a few McMaster volunteers, so let me know if you want to help.

As the planting discussion was unfolding, I read a news article about The Royal Botanical Gardens' efforts to protect turtles in the vicinity of nearby Cootes Drive. I asked professor Dudley (et al)

if Lot M would feature any improvements for turtle habitat, which prompted a flurry of activity resulting in a Saturday, October 4 work party, again by volunteers (this time from McMaster's Macserve day) to create space for turtles to lay eggs. The Gardens' staff were eager to see this happen since newly erected safety fences directing turtles away from the road make Lot M's newly created naturalized buffer a destination for the slow moving beauties.

I am fortunate to have access to people who are working on these issues, and by merely speaking up or suggesting an idea, it is very rewarding to be able to watch it develop into meaningful action. Thanks everyone who made these initiatives come to life!

Comments

Popular Posts

Guest Blogger: Carly Stephens Since its inception, Parking to Paradise has been a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration. Many readers are familiar with the Ancaster Creek riparian buffer and restoration work along the Northwest border of the parking lot. Interested parties across many faculties and disciplines have worked together to restore this ecosystem and raise awareness about the impacts urbanization on the natural environment. Nurtured by the time, commitment and hard work donated by volunteers and students, the land has grown into a site of green infrastructure, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable development. Read about Reyna Matties' Master’s work on retrofitting storm water management systems on the lot in the December 7, 2015 post below. Now, it’s the social sciences turn to learn where green infrastructure developments - as with the case of Lot M - fits into our social world.

My research involves exploring the various roles that green space plays in our urb…

Urbanization displaces and degrades ecosystems that are critical for humans, animals, and plants. Sustainable urban development has become a priority in the challenge to re-design our ageing infrastructure. Working to coexist peacefully with the surrounding environment will increase sustainability. As a graduate student of Biology at McMaster University, I am studying the applied ecology and hydrology of a parking lot system (Lot M). Ancaster Creek, a rare cold-water ecosystem, runs along Lot M and is part of an essential wildlife corridor for native species such as salmon, turtle, and deer. Together with Dr. Susan Dudley, I am working to retrofit the stormwater management of the system to minimize the impact of contaminants and runoff into the creek.

One method of achieving this goal is through increasing and restoring the land next to the creek. This is called a riparian buffer, which protects the system by providing habitat for animals, increasing sto…